Discussing God and Religion with James Frey
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- James Frey, controversial author of A Million Little Pieces, sits down with us for an exclusive interview about his novel The Final Testament of the Holy Bible. The book focuses on modern-day Messiah who advocates sex with men and women, drugs, and doing whatever makes one happy. We also touch on the end of the world, the cowardly publishing industry and how Frey is bypassing it, art, and the last time he prayed.
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I liked this guy better how i imagined him in A Million Pieces than how he is in real life
His book was made up
Same he was so much cooler
😂
i mean that was a fictional version of himself so makes sense lol
He's been through a lot and has a calmness when sharing his experiences. I liked the interview, thank you ...
I have a profoundly different view of God and Christ than this man but he seems honest in his search for God and faith. I can't imagine anyone being opposed to his writing no matter what it says, much less trying to harm him for it. As Gamaliel, the Jewish doctor of law in the book of Acts says, "…if this counsel or this work be of men it will come to naught, but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it…" I think that we can leave Jim to his work without condemning him for it.
James Frey is an amazingly compassionate man. He is right on about religion and world war. He embroidered his AA qualification to give himself an arrest record like so many people do in AA -- to fit in, to find some justifiable reason for attending that lamentable program. I read In a Million Pieces before the whole controversy. It was dead on. And heartbreaking -- the young girl in the end, shunned by the group and abandoned by her sponsor for the unforgivable sin of relapsing was driven, like so many others, who were looking for help and met with contempt and derision for being human, to suicide. Thank you James Frey and may she rest in peace.
The bible is not really that complicated: Be patient, be kind, be honest, be accountable and believe that God is and always will be. It is amazing how easy it is to twist that into such negativity.
Dareld Jolliffe That is the old testament, which was necessary in those days because man had not been redeemed for its original sin. After Christ's sacrifice, those things are no longer necessary. The ten commandments say nothing about homosexuality or slavery, follow them and believe in God and acknowledge the sacrifice his son made, really all he asks.
Lieutenant Fred Oh so the selectively edited version is what you adhere to, edited and written by "imperfect" humans no less.
makes no sense at all. All us horrible sinners (created by this god to do so) need to be saved from the sins this god created, so he sends down his "son" who is also himself to "sacrifice" to himself, to save us from himself...
Seems like a truly omnipotent good would have foreseen this. And you believing he is so loving he sure wouldn't send so many people to burn for eternity as part of his "plan" .
An omnipotent god would know exactly what it takes to make everyone believe in him if that's all it takes... and before you say
"but that takes away free will" Lucifer damn sure knew about god and still decided against him, still had free will.
but hey you believe any delusions and stories you like, not my problem. But dont think for a second they are deserving of any respect just because its what you believe.
Dareld Jolliffe God didn't create sin, we did. He did foresee it, but he never directly intervenes unless we ask him too, neither does he force us to do anything, he punishes us when we go against him of course, but that is usually only in extreme circumstances.
When I think of God, I think of a being that knows all and sees all, who tells us exactly what to do to be happy, yet does not want to force it upon us. He wants us to discover it on our own and make our own decision on what we find.
I want to ask you this, if you don't believe he is real, why do you struggle so hard against him and those that do? Seems counter-intuitive because the best course of action would be to ignore that person, yet you drew an argument towards you anyways. Maybe you were expecting a fanatic idiot who you could use your intellect to try and outwit?
I am not that idiot, I do research what I talk about and I will not be moved to an internet pissing match by you.
I respect your right to believe or not believe whatever you want, why are my beliefs undeserving of respect?
Lieutenant Fred Respecting someones right to believe and respecting someones beliefs are completely different. And, for the record, Jesus has prescriptions for how hard a slave should be beaten based on what the slave did. Luke 12:47-48. So that stuff is not just old testament. I commend you for having the humility to admit that your god is not all knowing.
Erik Piercy “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Servant does not equal slave and frankly the verse stands true outside of a servant-master relationship. A shitty worker should be punished and a negligent worker should be punished even worse. It is a lesson about responsibility and it goes on to explain that the servant should be treated fairly by the master.
If I am served at a restaurant, does that make my waiter a slave? No, that makes him/them a servant. Not to mention that Christ called all of his followers to be servants and even served others himself. The first shall be last and the last first, etc.
God is all knowing, just not all-controlling, he gives us the choice, even though he knows that many times we will make the wrong one.
Thanks Vice. You always post videos that always show us different approach in things.
Rule number one when you're trying to find about who God is...
Never go to a bias person who has their own agendas and don't even read the Bible to understand what the Bible is actually trying to teach you or tell you of the events that took place in the history of mankind. When James Frey commented on Jesus being "radical", it's already telling you that he doesn't even have an actual understanding about who Jesus is and what Jesus was presenting to the world during his time on the Earth. From what I'm seeing in what he's saying about the Bible is very biased. Example: he's saying we don't know the perspective of Jesus and only from people who knew him. When in the entire book of Matthew tells you Jesus' perspective very well. On another note, and this goes out to anyone that really and truly wants to learn about the Bible and what it teaches, find someone who studies the Bible and applies what they know about the Bible in their everyday life. Find a teacher that has studied the Bible. Go to a true Christian or to Jehovah's Witness elder. That is the only way you can truly understand what the Bible says.
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
I can empathize with this guy, not knowing what to believe once. Jesus touched my life, and I haven't been the same since. I want to know that I'm praying for all you guys that you will encounter Jesus in your lives as well, because I can finally love those around me and my own ambitions stopped me before. I hope the same for you.
God bless.
Your son died just like Solomons son died!
You did not TRUST God before, and yet you think He will save you when you are in trouble!
Most Christians feel they are praying to the wind! Because they are not saved! God wants to talk with those who TRUST HIM. Not to the sinner who only wants things from God but refuses to serve Him!
I wish sometimes people knew that despite what we think our lives should be... God has a plan. There are events that happen to be spiritually initiated. His son is not with us for a reason. Also, God is like humans in lots of ways. It is a parental figure. When we disobey God and when we question him in public, God is going to feel some type of way. And I think God will ignore you if you ignore God. But you never give up the pursuit of God because it is always a question in our consciousness because we all know deep down ... God is real. And within you. We have the power. We are that. We have the power. Pray to yourself. It's more energetic than literal. Be what you want. Act as if. Be in the energy of receiving instead of begging. Also In a couple thousand years whatever condition his son has, we will be able to prevent and cure. We will be able to live so much longer as well. We have so much more room to evolve. We will make heaven on Earth! We will realize our power. I'd love to talk with this guy.
"i have a profound respect for faith."
that is part of the problem with america, and the rest of the world as well. WHY should a person respect faith? how is faith a good thing? why is it good/respectable, to believe in something, despite not only a complete lack of evidence for it, but also refusing to accept evidence AGAINST your faith. being intellectually dishonest, biased, and lacking rationality and objectivism is not something to be respected in my opinion. i think peoples beliefs SHOULD be questioned (though not in any aggressive or mean way) especially by the believer himself. i think religions should have to defend their claims, and don't think it is intolerant or anything like that to question their claims, just like any other claims people make, such as seeing bigfoot or aliens, or having a cure for some disease. labeling faith as a good thing is essentially teaching kids not be objective, or to ask questions. it really is crazy when you think about it, the fact that the majority of this country still believe the things in the bible really happened! i mean an enormous amount of people in america believe in adam and eve, noahs flood, and that the earth is only 6000 years old, and that humans and dinosaurs lived together! that is fucking scary as hell. i mean pretty much everyone, including christians think scientologists, and hindus, and even mormons beliefs are silly, yet theirs are just as crazy, and have literally the same amount of evidence! the only reason they don't see them as ridiculous, is because they have been raised in a country, culture, and family that has immersed and indoctrinated them with the bible from birth. i mean if they had never heard of religion in at all, and had grown up in an isolated place, and were then confronted with representatives of all the different religions, they would see them all as equally valid/ridiculous. the biggest difference between a cult and a religion is the number of people who follow it. christianity is the biggest cult that has ever existed.
In a way, you have a point. People should question their faith, if only to further concrete it. As a Christian, I know that no matter what questions I have about God, morality, or religion in general, somehow he'll give me an answer, whether it be the one I thought I had been looking for or something else.
Morgan Vaughn but how do you know it's god giving you the answer, and not just coincidence, or your own personal insight?
Why should people of "faith"(which is really just religious people because faith is a word that is independent of religion) have respect for YOUR views?
Do you have any idea how crucial RESPECT is for a pluralistic society? That is a historical recipe for conflict.
The New atheists have nothing new to offer in terms of logic or arguments - they differ from "old" atheists in that they say respect for religion is bad. Go back to being the "old" atheists because clearly they had much more wisdom than the "new" ones do. More like "rash" ones.
thebullybuffalo i respect their right to hold such beliefs. my point is that faith is not something to be praised. if you believe in the bible fine. but to act like faith is a GOOD thing, is just ridiculous. if i told you i believed in vampires because of bram stoker's "dracula", and started making laws preventing certain people from being able to go out at night, and started killing all the bats in the world, would you respect that? more importantly, would you consider that something to be PRAISED?
when people use the bible as a reason to be prejudiced, or make laws, or affect the education of our children, or even their own, then i feel it is the right thing to do to question WHY they believe what they do. and when the answer is "because its in a bunch of ancient texts that were thrown together a long time ago," i consider that a very sad state for our country, and our world to be in.
please tell me why you think faith is a good thing, and how a person that believes in something without evidence is in any way better than one who doesn't.
as for your question, "Why should people of "faith"(which is really just religious people because faith is a word that is independent of religion) have respect for YOUR views?"
My entire point is that people shouldn't just respect my views because they are my views. they should investigate my points/claims/beliefs on their own, and determine the evidence for them, and see if they are sound arguments. i try as hard as i can to believe things because they have been shown to be true, not because it feels good to believe them, or because my family, or society, or an old holy book say to. and i think the world would be a much better place if everyone did the same. do you disagree with that?
Mockturtlesoup1 I NEVER said you had to PRAISE their views - that's a straw man version of what I said. And if you really did believe in vampires I definitely would respect your belief - I would think it ridiculous but I wouldn't mock it. Mocking leads to polarization and hostility which leads to conflict - especially when it's not one person but a large group.
I NEVER said you should respect their view because it is "their" view whatever that means or because it means something to them. Yet another straw man version (you are repulsive to converse with by how much you distort what I say - and distortion is not to be respected). I said you should respect their view because disrespecting it GOES DOWN A BAD ROAD. Now I'm repeating myself like a broken record.
You are pretty naive if you don't understand what I'm saying. Would you rather live in the middle east? They apply those principles of no mutual respect for counter perspectives very well there.
Very eye opening interview, I really appreciated what he had to say about his son's death and about how faith played a part in it. Will definitely be checking out this book. Thank you Vice and James Frey.
I love his heart. Im praying for you James! You're almost there bro, keep looking keep searching!!!
These people are both great speakers. Only the internet can take a message to so many people. This deserves so many more views.
This guy made up some stories in A Million Little Pieces, call me crazy but its hard to trust a liar. I don't really give a shit what this guy has to say.
I guess you don't trust too many people then. And the ones you do trust, probably are not worthy of your trust because they to are liars. The whole world is filled to the brim with liars. Hell the people who run this planet, the polititions and religious leaders are among the biggest liars of all. We are a species of liars. If you have no faith in liars, if you cannot live in a world where e everyone is a liar, then you should just split your wrists now. Humans are the liars. Lying to each other on a planet of the liars.
i agree...
this man is delusional
Lol well then I guess you can't even trust yourself or your mother because 98% of the world has told at least one lie. Stupid
As he admitted it himself that he is still struggling with "his" concept of God and his own faith. I respect that. My prayer for him is that he has an encounter with the Almighty so that his questions are answered.
(cont) when i got back to the rehab, i went into our room and started to read the first chapter. our days were always full in rehab. we had only a couple hours a day or down time. i am not sure how i got through the whole book in 3 days but i did. i didnt wanna put it down! once i seen what the book was all about, yes, i did realize the irony of me reading it in rehab. i passed it along to a couple other girls and eventually the counselors found it and sent it home w/ a girls mom.
This is why parents are a major part of a kids life. Yet half the time it ends in divorce and skewed with anger and mixed emotions. Debt, Divorce, Political views, everything comes from a product of what you live around.
JAMES BEST BOOK I EVER READ ...AFTER I FINISHED IT I GOT GOOSEBUMPS EVERYWHERE...”I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU”
was about to say the same thing. Come on Vice we missed your awesome documentaries
amazing interview!
Very cool interview.
Thank you. It's possible to believe in, and have a relationship with God without being a slave to religion, or even religious at all. I don't understand why so many people can't grasp the fact that religion, as a man-made institution, is completely different from spirituality, which is something beneficial that everyone has naturally.
Great interview. Frey had some thought-provoking things to say. Just might pick me up a copy of this new book.
Don't get caught up in one way of thinking, think for yourself but, do good things avoid the bad things that kill your body and make you an angry unhappy person. Do things that make you happy and laugh and you will have a good life.
this dude is one of my idals
I'll be reading this book, way to go Mr. Frey! Excellent concept/idea for a publication with other artists involved.
Hey, James Fray when you were talking about your son and you brought going to church and praying.sorry for such a tragedy of loosing your son. I just wanted to say is " i have lost two siblings in my life".I come from a christian back round, my dad is pastor. He's been a follower of Christ since he was a boy.I have asked him about losing two children.He says"they were very tough times in his life,it was a test in his faith in god. If he would still praise him 100 percent no matter what happens.
That thumbnail though.
Vice as rebel as ever, getting involved in religious questions. Love it!
great interview
Amazing stuff... I enjoy everything that pushes boundaries and makes you think. Comedy, music, literature, art, everything. This man is a hero in my eyes because he decided to figure out how he felt about religion and "God" without being bitter but instead his real life experiences to mold his ideal vision of a messiah which is absolutely ground breaking. More people need to take this step, and I'm including myself in this, and just put themselves out there because the possibilities are endless.
"Hubert: Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so good... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!"
Thankyou La Haine
Hey James, I'm terribly sorry to hear about the passing of your son. I can't imagine what that must have been like for you and your wife. Do you believe something happened to his soul or spirit when he past? What do you think you need to do in this life to join him in the next?
that was 3 years ago and i have been reading a million little pieces but my friend leonard is my favorite. i wanna buy it just to read it again. i dont think they realize how important that book was to me (considering they had no idea it was mine) but i still think about that book and i wanna read it again & again.
You put it in the best way possible, exactly what I was thinking!
I love every people who talk about religion WITHOUT INSULTING people with different believes :)
One of the best books I've read.
Very interesting. What a well-spoken and honest man. I think I may want to read this book.
Hey, remember that time James Frey wrote a book about his hardcore, crazy drug addiction and told everyone it was true and got famous overnight, and then everyone found out it was bullshit and called him on it and then suddenly no one cared and he's still famous for nothing?
I have turned to astronomy, astrophysics and quantum - cosmology revealed more divinity in life than any scripture and cultural art revealed. I'm post religious but feel grateful for any religion that bring out the best in people. Leading professors in Ivy League universities are now pursuing M Theory and the idea of the multiverse and thanks to Rob Bryanton, we're discovering the omniverse. Although this is a paramount undertaking for science, however, I appreciate this revelation of God.
King David went through the same thing James Frey did: his son fell ill, so he fasted, cried, called out to God, yet his son still died (2 Samuel 12:15-23). At the end of the day, David still trusted YHWH. James Frey chose not to. His perception of Jesus is..an interesting one, but the biblical Jesus believed in torah; he taught against the traditions negating YHWH's law (Mark 7:1-13; Matthew 23:1-3). Having an institution spoon-feed you is the problem. Just read the text. If an interpretation leads to a contradiction or denying God's law (a big red flag because the law is suppose to be written on our hearts under the new covenant i.e. Hebrews 8:10; Ezekiel 36:25-27), then there's a flaw in the interpretation. Knowing your Old Testament really well is the key to arriving at the cohesive storyline. But like anything else that you cannot verify for yourself, or if there is archaeological evidence then the choice to believe that they aren't fabricated, it's a choice to trust this source of information as true or not.
james frey has some very valid points which i support and the one fact that i support the most is that most wars and problems have been caused through reiligion
So what exactly in the book is considered to be controversial? He sounds like a smart, good guy, who has been through a lot.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
-Christopher Hitchens
ps. In particular, since I use the 'triple 6' OK sign myself (in and out of the water) it did reflect on me personally, whether so intended or not, which is why I felt compelled to comply.
He doesn't even mention being an atheist, he just doesn't have 'faith'. I'm an atheist and I think his book is incredibly interesting.
You know what I like? People giving false information about a subject, then calling over a million people idiots.
i feel a bit like the interviewer stuck to his written questions a bit too much whereas i would have preferred he followed the tangent James Frey went off on about faith and his ideals instead of just the book
i seriously need to get this
Great author. Read his million little pieces a good while ago. Props mr. Frey
this guy has a pretty sweet approach to writing and publishing, i can't wait to get to read this book of his!
Does he have a website, very interested!
if religion is meant for people to get along than why does it result in wars?
Please don't put negative light on Christianity if you don't know for sure what you're saying. Also, please don't talk out of hate. It turns sour and makes you look bad. God goes out of His way to have a personal relationship with anyone who pursues Him, and even sometimes those who reject Him! He is full of love, patience, mercy, kindness, peace, truth, and goodness. He teaches us how to live and love, but some people who call themselves "Christians" unfortunately miss the main message of LOVE.
I am not insulting anyone, but God does not make bad things happen unless they have a purpose. Satan makes bad things happen to turn us away from God, but he is really turning people away from belief itself.
He isn't wrong; he said: "land grabs in the name of religion". And it is certainly the case that race and religion divides people into categories that create a race between factions within nations and between nations.
Christianity never caused no problems,men who misinterpret Christianity did.
Nice to finally see someone who understands the basics of rational thinking.
Its not really about religion. Its about the lack of critical thinking. Religion is just a symptom. Dogma and faith is irrational.
Good interview...I like how he's not afraid to say what a lot of people are thinking
You could say the exact same sentence, only substituting "Christians" with "Atheists" and "God" with "no god", and have the exact same argument. There is NOT ONE FUCKING SLIVER OF EVIDENCE IN THE DAMN UNIVERSE that supports the theory of intelligent design.
He basically said he just doesn't know, and when he looked for answers he got none.
“No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!" Isaiah 65:20 (Speaking of a future time)
hahaha, not quite miraculous just really good, I did ask him for a glass of water, and he turned it into Kool-Aid, then apparently you drank it!!!
i hang out with them for a long time now been with them in parties, hang outs, etc, and i can say im getting married to my high school sweet heart she is a very loving person
Please, PLEASE interview Sam Harris next. Please find this man and listen to his perspective on this particular subject. His views are the most refreshing and non-partisan that I have heard in a long, long time and the Vice community, in addition to the world at large, I think could take a lot away.
Guys, chill out. It's his opinion, just like it's your own. Let the man have write what he wants.
well done sir, i enjoyed this
okay, I mean, critical thought would tell you that people use the 'okay' hand sign due to growing up with that it being a custom of communicating, 'okay', to someone. simply that it is their upbringing the same way people use thumbs up or the middle finger. And the three 'f's being that the alliteration unconsciously draws people to that language technique because thats how our brain and memory works.
I love that saying, I almost bought a tee shirt with it on it XD
is that his new book u are talking about, or million pieces? regards
Also, what do you have against his use of "friends, family, followers?" In the interview Frey says he based his novel on the documentation of Christ.
What is there to respect about "faith". It's bad enough faith is in essence believing something that not only you have no good reason to believe is true, it warps the most meaningful parts of our lives into rhetorical dogma. Having hope that things will be better is not "faith". Trying to make the world more ideal is not faith. Faith is accepting something as true no matter how evidence there is that something is not true. Faith is the essence of being close minded.
Everything is consciousness. As the illusion of separation dissolves, we realize that God is not separate from us. Our current thought paradigm involves past, present, future & subject - object opposition. These aspects of thought constantly reinforce the idea that God is a supreme being who sees us as a chess board. Really, we are swamped in the illusory matrix created by language and have forgotten what we are. It's like we only validate what can be linguistically expressed. YOU create ALL.
Is it all contained within the books of the New Testament?
out of curiosity, where did you get the fact that we have mapped 4% of the universe?
He should do more stories. He is pretty good.
your right when you say skewed. when the roman catholic church first translated the bible, many parts were altered, censored, or completely removed because it was deemed, and I quote, "dangerous knowledge".
Atheism is not a religion, it is not a lack of religion. It is the lack of belief in a deity. Buddhism is a religion, that also does not believe in a all powerful deity, therefore atheist. There are a couple examples of religions that are atheist.
He's wrong about the majority of current conflict being religion-based. Most conflicts are political and resource-based, but the leaders use religion as a justification for what they're doing. Mainly, because it makes it easier for the population to swallow.
Let the battle begin!!!
the new world translation is extremely accurate. we know this because it doesn't differ from the dead sea scrolls, the oldest knows manuscripts of the bible. it also hasn't had the name of god stripped from it, Jehovah
is the plane in your profile the one you plan on hijacking?
All those books can only be traced back until a few hundred years after Christ. If you would read Erik's statement again he is absolutely right and your argument has nothing to do with yours.
@uDyzeeBud: the Jesus most people know is pagan. The biblical one, on the otherhand, does not agree with the theory that Roman's made up the awaited messiah, nor that Jesus approved of pagan/Roman practices. Both YHWH and Jesus said not to be like the pagans in lifestyle and worship (Deuteronomy 12:4,29-32; Matthew 6:7-8), he is our King/Redeemer who shares his glory with no one but whomever is already in the Godhead as YHWH (Isaiah 42:8; John 17:5)-thus, not Caesar. Just because we pay taxes doesn't mean we worship Caesar / the government. And the Jews already favored Caesar, they didn't need to make up a messiah for that: the chief priests are found saying, "we have no king but Caesar" in John 19:15 when denying Jesus. Only the evil people in the bible are depicted as choosing Caesar instead of Jesus. That's counterproductive to anything the Roman's wanted to achieve. The theory that "Romans invented Jesus" doesn't hold up. Not to mention, the epistles' of Jesus' apostles tell us to be different from the world, not engaging in pagan revelry (i.e. Romans 12:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 4:2-6; 1 Peter 4:1-5; Ephesians 4:17-24), thus not in agreement with the way Roman society was living nor what Roman society was approving of.
Sadly, the majority of YHWH's people have done a bad job of living holy/set-apart/totally devoted to carrying out the will of our Father; they've failed at being disciples of the prophet like unto Moses who would come from the Jews (which is Jesus, but not the one most people worship). Instead, even as the bible admits, his people chose to be adulterous/disloyal to YHWH, incorporating pagan traditions and pagan forms of worship (which is still happening today). In some cases, as is happening today as well, making up their own traditions which they hold up on a higher pedestal than their God, even at times when it contradicts his law/divine revelation. His people are suppose to be distinct so no one mistakes the identity of the Most High for pagan gods. This is what mixing traditions gets them-and what it does to their God's reputation. Nothing good.
But that's not the issue you're most concerned about: you're saying why does this pattern/information exist before the religions themselves were estabIished. It seems you haven't gone down this line of reasoning: on the assumption that a Creator God exists-a God who does nothing without announcing it through his prophets first, and prophecies which don't get fulfilled until generations upon generations later-of course his information will disseminate across the globe and take the form of different legends as the generations wait for the messiah and find ways to pass on the information. Remember, according to the scrolls, Abraham was formerly a pagan himself; YHWH took him out of the world, away from his parents and the culture he knew, because YHWH wanted to make a nation out of him, to prove that he (YHWH) was the Creator and Most High God [Abraham's wife was barren; thus the miraculous aspect which would convince people that YHWH was the real deal, even more so by letting her become elderly and then giving birth]; that's before Judaism and Christianity ever came about (the Jews didn't even exist as a people until Judah, son of Israel/Jacob, son of Isaac, whom is the son of Abraham). The Hebrew and Greek scriptures didn't always exist in book form. They were scrolls written by various different people, documenting different eras of human history / king's reigns [pre- and post- Israelites having a human king, one which they asked for in order to be like the pagan nations, 1 Samuel 8], spanning across thousands of years. The prophecy concerning the messiah was declared even earlier, BEFORE Abraham even-after humans were first created, thus before any man established a single religion. You can't think of it in terms of "when a religion was established". Think of the people groups who are documented.
The prophecies of a human child, who would defeat the line of the enemy, has been around since the beginning of mankind when humanity was cursed for transgressing against their Creator. If you actually study all the religions you'll see that some religions worship a serpent deity, while others condemn the serpent for wanting worship for himself. Religions didn't exist during Adam and Eve's time (or whatever their names were in the original language; whatever you want to call them, what I mean is "the first humans"), despite spiritual beliefs existing. God clearly had instructions for humanity to follow, like he does for all of his creations. The rebellious choose to be led by what feels good to the fallen flesh and "self" instead of being led by spirit, self-less concern for others, the Creator's sense of justice, and following the function he designed a thing for. The reason we need to have those laws written down-unlike the stars, moon, seasons, migrating animals, who just naturally obey-is because we ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we became self-aware. And ever since then, there will always be a group of people wanting to do their own thing, or wanting to do the Creator's will, in which case they can be born-again in their souls, he'll turn them into new creatures, out of the corruption of the fallen flesh they were born into (thanks to original sin _), leaving the desires of the fallen flesh behind-the redemption of their bodies comes later. Both the righteous and the wicked are getting resurrected though, and I'm not sure what kind of body the wicked will have, but the righteous are promised to be immortal like the angels, no more corruption or death.
This may mean nothing to you. But I do believe it. I for one did not reach my decision on blind faith. I started out with the occult to boot. I had doubts, I investigated, and the only one that fully satisfied on a spiritual level and actually repaired things-despite the instructions not making full sense to me at the time-were the scriptures themselves. NOT the religions inspired by them, NOT any metaphysical teachings nor attempts to contact spirits (not saying contacting spirits doesn't work; but whatever divination I received from those spirits only led to more cynicism and distrust of the human race on my part because I could catch them in lies through whatever questions I asked; the divination I engaged in was nothing short of witchcraft). If anyone wants real healing, seek Jesus. And as for the Worldview, I do hold to the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, their ancient cosmology, especially the Book of Enoch which is basically the whole bible condensed into one book, not that many are willing to admit it.
I was refering to the new testament, the most widely used scripture of the christian faith today. Which is around 2000 years old.
I dont think its as much as a guy sitting there judging us. I believe god is more of a father. We dont have to go up to him every day and say thank you father for creating me but we should visit him once in a while and let him know we love him.
... people like you make me feel like the world is rotting away beneath my feet. Im so sorry for you.
The universe is governed by an interaction between chance and necessity, not chance alone, and intelligence, along with independent thought, is a product of that interaction.
Please welcome James Frey to the club!
The point I was trying to make was that science is ever evolving, many scientific discoveries are simply the best explanation we can offer until someone else discovers something new or different. You make it sound like science and religion are mutually exclusive, which they are not. Besides creation/evolution, how many other conflicting theories are u able to list? Stephen Jay Gould (evolutionary biologist) said the two can co-exist. Religion has been influential in early science as well.
this dude speaks some serious truth in this video.
What is the difference between James Frey and Jesus? Jesus had the balls to tell people that there is happiness even in their own miserable shitty lives, as long as they stay true, and then people killed him for that. James Frey showed that if you do not care for the truth, you can still live without your balls.
You have a great point. If the 'West' never treated the middle east the way 'we treat them' then they would be a very civil society. Right.
I think it isn't religion directly causing problems. It's peoples inability to accept others for their beliefs, and the silly things that trigger offense among certain groups.
Religious conviction has many different effects on people. The question whether or not any god(s) exist is not touched by this argument though.
I think believing in God is fine if it makes your life better. However, when it comes to the point when people are hating others and arguing over belief systems it certainly does defeat the purpose of having it at all.
It would be funny if thousands of years from now people find a copy of his book, start a religion based on it and have a bunch of wars over how to interpret it.
The only thing worse than people who aggressively push religion, are atheists who are assholes. I really like James's openness about his beliefs and how he in a way envys those who have faith in a god, although he doesn't feel it himself. Respect those who are different than you, as you would wanted to be respected.